Stratford Man Who Sexually Exploited Girls Online Sentenced: Feds

STRATFORD, CT — A Stratford man has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison on child exploitation offenses in connection with his “sexual exploitation of girls across the country through Snapchat and other online applications,” according to officials.

Alexander Dilella, 24, was also sentenced Monday in Bridgeport federal court to seven years of supervised release following the prison term, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Vanessa Robert Avery announced.

Dilella was also ordered to pay $24,000 in restitution, according to officials.

Authorities said that in 2020 and 2021, Dilella used “various online applications, including Snapchat, FaceTime, and Omegle to communicate with at least nine minor girls across the country, some as young as 12 and 13 years old, and manipulate them to engage in sexual activity while livestreaming, and to send him explicit images and videos of themselves,” according to a news release.

Dilella also sent sexually explicit images of himself to several of minor victims, officials said.

“During one Snapchat exchange with a 14-year-old victim in Colorado, Dilella referred to the girl as a ‘child porn slave’ and demanded that she send him a sexually explicit image of herself, which she did,” officials wrote in the news release. “Dilella also attempted to meet a 16-year-old victim in Stratford to engage in sex acts with him, but they could not agree on a location. When the victim suggested they meet in her basement, Dilella declined because he felt it was a ‘trap.’”

Investigators seized Dilella’s iPhone on May 24, 2021, and an analysis of the phone found “videos of prepubescent children being sexually abused,” according to officials.

Dilella was arrested on May 4, 2022. He pleaded guilty in November 2023 to receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Dilella, who is released on a $250,000 bond, is required to report to prison on May 15, according to officials.

The prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit here.

To report cases of child exploitation, visit here.